A Prince's Life
by Prime627
Summary: Starscream and his trine are Princes in Vos. When Starscream allows himself to be drug to the Pits of Kaon, expecting a fight to the death, he sees that and more. His desire to change Cybertron lands him in Megatronus' company.
1. Chapter 1

**As I'm writing this, I just want you to know that I have Tripod in the chair behind me (tabby cat, three legs, green eyes) and Opal (Dwarf Netherland rabbit, albino) in a laundry basket at my feet. In case this does not get posted due to Tripod and Opal tagteaming me because somehow I've offended them by mentioning them in this fic, I love my little FanFiction stalker BookieAngel (Yes, I've noticed you favoriting the fics with no rhyme or reason... I see you spamming my gmail. It's funny as** _ **snot**_ **, and I crack up** _ **every single time**_ **. I feel like Megatron watching Starscream!). I love you all who put up with the flops, the maybe-flops, and the good stuff I actually post. I thank you all for not pointing out my many speeling mistakes that show up from time to time. (Like that one. That one was intentional). X3 Now let's see if this can actually go somewhere. I mean, who doesn't love the Seeker trine? Anything that sounds weird/doesn't seem to go along with anything else you've read, it's** _ **probably**_ **based off a roleplay I had with a friend or six.**

Starscream woke up, blinking at the sun that filtered through the curtains. He stretched and yawned, slowly standing up and walking to open the curtains.

Vos was beautiful at dawn. The Seekers below were shuffling around, greeting others with a yawn and a nod. The Seekers flying gave others more room than necessary. There was only a quiet hum of engines. Seekers were relatively quiet...

Someone should have told the Queen.

"Star _screeeeaaaaam!_ Get your brothers up _now!_ "

He called down the massive flight of stairs. "Coming, Carrier!" He momentarily wondered what Skywarp had done, and then wondered if _he_ had done something. He shrugged and walked into Thundercracker's room. "Baby Blue?"

Thundercracker was already up, fumbling around the room with his cape. Starscream sighed and tapped his brother's chin, making the littler Seeker look up at the ceiling. "It's a hook and loop. You feel the hook with your index and thumb on one servo, feel the loop with the same digits on the other servo, and you _loop_ it."

Thundercracker smiled and nodded, hugging his brother before he walked out after him, the red fabric flowing behind him. Starscream snagged his own purple cape on the way to check on Skywarp.

The last brother was snoozing under a mountain of sheets. Starscream flicked on the lights and marched over to rip open the curtains while hooking his cape on. "Skywarp, wake up and get ready. Carrier wants us."

"Five more minutes," came the sleepy reply.

"Five minutes from now, Sire will come up these stairs and haul your aft out of berth, now come on!"

Thundercracker watched silently, looking at Starscream, who gave him a sigh and a nod. They started pulling the sheets off until their brother was revealed.

He groaned and covered his optics. "Come on, Starscream..."

"No, _you_ come on. I gave you a warning, now this is me enforcing it." He sat his brother up, wiped the crust forming around his brother's optics (Primus knew why Skywarp had "bad optics"), then fastened his cape on. "And _don't_ fall back to sleep."

Starscream stood at the top of the stairs before his brothers ran up and came up behind him, settling on either side side of him, Thundercracker on his right, Skywarp on his right.

The Queen purred up at them. "Look at how beautiful you precious Princes are! Honey, look at them!"

The King came around and looked at his sons, smiling a bit. "They look decent."

Starscream sighed and walked down the stairs, keeping Thundercracker from running down the stairs. They had passed the _I have to run wherever I gotta go_ stage. Skywarp's pede touched the bottom of the stairs first, then the brothers settled at the massive table, all clustered around one end while the King and Queen sat on the other end.

No one else refueled with the royal family.

Starscream sat directly across from his father. Skywarp was on his right, Thundercracker on his left.

The Queen purred as she refueled on a pink-ish cube. It wasn't High Grade, but it wasn't regular Energon either. It was a mix that kept her alert, but full, and slightly tipsy.

"I remember when you three were tiny," she said suddenly.

Yes, when they were tiny, they still had to sit where the brothers sat now, even when they wailed and begged to be held. Servants that had long ago been let go tended to them.

The King grunted as he finished his cube and he waved a servo for another.

"I also remember trying to name you," she continued. She smiled. The Energon had obviously gone to her helm. "The other two were easy. Your father listened to me then, but you, Starscream? Impossible! That wasn't even supposed to be your name."

Starscream flinched. "It wasn't?"

Skywarp snickered until Starscream kicked his shin. Then he whimpered into his fuel.

"No! I had a cute name all picked out, and I tried to tell your father what it was after you were born and out of me, and Skywarp was coming out. The stupid medics wanted to know what your name was so they could band you in case there ended up being exact triplets and we couldn't tell who from who. He heard _Star_ alright, but whenever I tried to tell him the last part of your name, Skywarp moved just a little more closer to the medic and his wings scraped along because they unfurled mid-push and it was _torture_. Pure _torture_ to get you out, Sky, my dear." She pointed an accusing digit at Skywarp, who pouted. "But your sire thought it was funny how I'd say _Star-ahhhhhhh!_ so he called him Starscream."

Skywarp wrapped his arm around Starscream's shoulders. "It suits him."

"And it suits him because he _wailed_ louder than _anyone_. He spooked the two split-sparks next to his crib in the room where they keep the sparklings, I forget what it's called..."

Starscream lowered his optics to stare at his cube. He finished it, then got up. "I'll be out and about," he said slowly.

Skywarp jumped up. "Yes! Let's go to the Pits!"

Thundercracker swallowed the rest of his cube and waved for another, but he held it. Starscream thought he would drink it on the way to the Pits.

The Queen looked up. "Isn't that in Kaon? You _know_ how much we hate Kaon... There are pleasurebots and homeless Seekers all around. I don't want you three mixed up in them."

Skywarp took his carrier's servo and patted it. "I promise, my dear carrier, we will behave as the Princes you have raised us. In the name of the King!" He hugged his sire's neck and he laughed when the larger Seeker's wings fanned against his body. He could always get his creators to step back for a couple moments so the brothers could slip out into the streets.

Starscream herded the smaller brother out of the palace before the Queen or the King could change their minds. Skywarp followed them shortly afterwards, Energon candies in his servo.

"Here you go, Thundercracker. Ready?"

Thundercracker nodded and took the candies. With his load, they couldn't transform and minimize their trip by three minutes. So they marched out of Vos and down to Kaon, greeting the Seekers they passed until the sour grounders became most of the population. Starscream kept Thundercracker close.

"There's the Pits," Skywarp said as he pointed. "I'll find our seats. Starscream, do you want to take Thundercracker down to the gladiators to visit?"

Starscream raised an optic ridge, but nodded. "Is that why you have all those candies? And the cube? Thundercracker, if you get caught..."

"I won't," he promised and he walked with his brother, smiling up at him. Then he led his older brother down into the arena and to one of the closest cells that held a purple and silver mech. "Hello!"

Starscream put a protective servo on his brother's shoulder, pulling him back even as he unwrapped a candy and dropped it within reach of the gladiator. He pouted down at it when an official turned his helm to see what was going on.

"He won' hurt 'im, Prince," the official said. He walked up to the bars and shook them, creating an awful sound that made Starscream's optics water and audios ring. "He's locked up tight, 'e is."

Thundercracker looked up at his brother, then walked to a door. He waited until the giggling femmes already inside walked out, then he pulled Starscream in.

It stunk. It was dark, cold, and it smelled _awful_. Unicron himself would cringe at the state of these cells. Starscream waved a servo in front of his face, gagging softly, but Thundercracker walked right to one of the cells and offered a candy. The yellow and silver mech slowly crept closer and took it. He was only partially armored.

"These are the pleasurebots. Sometimes, when they get too many, they send a servoful of these starving bots out into the arena and watch them tear them apart." Thundercracker looked at him sadly. "And we can help them, you know? Mom and Sire, they can shut this place down, but it brings in so many credits..."

There was a soft purr. Starscream turned and watched his brother run to the only femme in the room.

At one point in time, she had been blue. Now she was silver and bruised, one optic damaged and the other could barely be considered _operational_. Thundercracker gave her the cube. "She's going to be let out to fight soon. They think she's too old. She's been in here since she could walk around. Do you know she's only a few days younger than us?"

Starscream ushered his brother towards the door. "That's nice, Thundercracker, really...I'll talk to Mom and Sire about them shutting this place down." He glanced back at the femme, who blinked and mouthed _thank you_. He nodded at her. She shifted and limp wings came into view. That was what made Starscream put his pede down. Seekers were considered royalty, not bought pleasures!

He sat down next to Skywarp and had his arms crossed through the entire match: a femme against a mech five times her size. The mech won before the femme could even get her servos up.

Starscream walked in silence out of the Pits, his brothers beside him. "We are getting that place shut down," he growled.

Skywarp and Thundercracker nodded.

"I was hoping you'd see Megatronus," Skywarp said. "He's not like the other gladiators. He tries to reach out to the audience, to the mech or femme he's fighting. He was even prodded with an Energon prod when he refused to fight a youngling they took out of the back room and he's still fighting!"

Starscream looked at him. "We will talk to him later, I guess... But we need to tell Carrier about what Thundercracker and I exactly saw in that back room."

"It's awful, isn't it?" Skywarp sighed and he looked down at his pedes. "Did you see the Seeker femme?"

Starscream gave a slow nod and his optics narrowed. Then he walked up the stairs and into the dining room. "Carrier, Sire, I need to speak with you both."

They blinked at him.

"I need you to shut down the Pits of Kaon."

 **This'll be continued. This is basically Starscream's life with his trine before the war and then when he first started listening to Megatron to the point he's Megatron's second against Optimus' Autobots. How do you like it so far, guys? X3**


	2. Chapter 2

"What do you mean, _you can't close the Pits_?"

"Starscream, love..." The Queen moved closer, touching her son's servo. "We'd love to, really, but it keeps the bots in Kaon from storming up to Vos. We don't want that, do we?"

"But bots are _dying_. You should have seen them all, Carrier! Sire, you believe me, don't you?"

The King was staring out the window, sipping a High Grade cube. He went over there as soon as Starscream started talking about what he had seen in the Pits.

"Sire?" Starscream prompted again.

"I believe you, Starscream, and we will go together later. As a family. We will have to see this for ourselves."

Starscream nodded and he got up, walking out of his creator's quarters. Skywarp and Thundercracker were waiting in the hall outside. "We are going back this evening."

Thundercracker smiled and hugged his brother. Starscream patted his back, then pushed him down. "Now, Thundercracker, I think you have a bath to take. You reek of the pleasurebots. Skywarp, make sure he bathes, mm?"

"What about you?"

"I'm going to get ready to break down the Pits," he said and he grinned.

 **ooo**

Thundercracker smiled as he led his carrier into the back room. The pleasurebots were instantly alert, mewing and smiling at the little Prince. The Queen hesitated before she walked in, dragging her mate in after her. He excused himself immediately, purging on the sand of the arena. The officials quickly mopped it up, but left the twitching body of the last fight lay in its corner.

"Oh..."

Starscream followed his mother's gaze towards the Seeker femme and he walked to her. Thundercracker was quick to explain.

"She lost her wings to her sister. She can't fly, and she doesn't go mad if she doesn't see the sky, but her wings are infected because the mechs that like to come in here tie her up by them since she can't feel them."

The Queen knelt and reached through the bars, moving to stroke the femme's cheek with the back of her servo. The official in charge of the pleasurebots smiled as he walked over.

"If you like her, I have her cell key."

The Queen stiffened and stood slowly. "Do you have them all?"

"I-"

"Answer the question."

"I do, but-"

"Good. Then you can unlock their cells. All of them."

"A-all of..." The official held up a digit. "Let me get the manager..."

The Queen went back to stroking the femme's face. "Does she speak?"

"She's trained not to speak," Thundercracker said. He was kneeling in front of another cell, a mech smiling at him.

Then the mech spoke as he stood. "She's trained not to speak, but she will if you ask her to."

"Does she have a name, I mean..." The Queen offered an apologetic smile to the femme. "I'm sorry, do _you_ have a name, lovely?"

The femme shook her helm, looking down. "No, ma'am..."

Starscream felt the need to break something. How could Cybertronians do this to another Cybertronian?

The mech leaned against the bars. "We are not given names. Sometimes we earn names, sometimes we die nameless."

"Do you have a name?"

"Steeltrap." He smiled. "Or Steeljaw, whichever you prefer. I earned Steeltrap, but I prefer Steeljaw."

Thundercracker smiled and reached through the bars to touch the mech. Steeltrap lifted a servo and touched the mechling's servo, chuckling. "You have lovely sons, my Queen..."

The official came back with the manager.

"Would you _please_ explain yourself, femme?"

The Queen slowly stood. "Femme? I am the Queen of Vos and you will treat me as such. It seems you have one of my Seekers in your...services."

"That thing? Oh, she is not a Seeker, not anymore. She doesn't have working wings and we kept her in a closet for weeks. She doesn't need to see the sky."

The Queen raised an optic ridge at him, crossing her arms. "And what gave you the right to put her in this cell?"

"Milady, it... _she_ wasn't wanted when we got her. She was dropped off by a mech when she was a little thing and, well, we were told to do with her as we pleased. Since she refused to fight, we put her here."

The Queen smiled and extended a servo. "The keys, sir?"

"What?"

"I desire her to be free. I can see a better use for her."

Starscream turned to look at the femme, who was being stroked by the mech with two names. He was soothing her, stroking her helm and face and purring softly at her. Then the Queen opened her cell and helped the femme out.

At first, the femme hesitated and backed up, but the Queen pulled her gently forward until the femme was out of the cell and into the Queen's arms.

"I have you now...It is okay." She stroked her helm, then made a face. "You need a bath. A good long bath." She handed the femme to Starscream. "Take her back to the palace and put her under a shower head for at least an hour. She needs to be clean when I come home."

Thundercracker gripped his brother's arm. "Where are you going, Mama?"

"I'm going to shut down the Pits." And she was gone, marching off after the manager who was scrabbling to take shelter in his office.

Starscream walked out with the femme in his arms. She was limping, so he lifted her up. "I will stop this, Thundercracker. No Cybertronian deserves to be treated this way. When I'm King, no one will fight or bend over for anyone's amusement! No one, Thundercracker!"

Everyone heard him, even a blue opticed gladiator that Skywarp was watching. The mech raised his helm and moved, just the way Skywarp had been begging for him to do. The Prince reached in and smoothed a bandage over a wound the mech had received in his last fight, then he ran after his brothers.

The mech caught sight of the femme in the Prince's arms and he smirked. "I will get out, too, little Seeker, and then we will have a talk..."

Though he spoke lowly, the femme heard him and she whimpered.


	3. Chapter 3

After the femme was bathed, dried, buffed, repainted, fed, and laid in Thundercracker's berth, Starscream went back to the Pits. The Queen was getting the rest of the pleasurebots out and into homes with relatives that had stopped hoping they were alive. The ones that had no home went to the palace. The last to go were the gladiators.

Megatronus was still in his cell, quivering from the previous fight. The Pit-bosses decided a fight was in order, to kill as many of the pleasurebots as possible. Steeltrap was one of the ones that died. Starscream vowed to not tell the femme. The Queen was distraught.

"How could they have done it?" She held the mech close, rocking back and forth. Seekers were extremely emotional and grieved about the death of everything. "How could they? He was so sweet..."

Starscream reached through the bars, seeing a cyber-monkey in a cage rather than a bot. The mech was furious, huffing steam. A collar was around his neck. Starscream grasped that and twisted the key in the lock on his cell. Then he led Megatronus out into the light. "Come along...come along. Carrier doesn't think it's your fault. She's letting you stay in my quarters until we figure out what to do with you." He found a wall of leashes, found the one labeled for Megatronus, then held it up for the mech to see. The gladiator's optics narrowed, but he let the Prince clip it onto his collar.

"I will be...the perfect gentlemech."

"Sire would appreciate that," Starscream said. He walked the gladiator to Vos, his wings down. His carrier was still crying for Steeljaw, begging Primus to give him back. "Carrier will be a while yet."

Starscream found something out about Megatronus, just as he had with the femme, who loved the water so much, they transferred her into the tub to play. Megatronus stood still until Starscream have him cues to turn, to stand off to the side, to kneel.

"How long were you in the Pits? Fighting and being theirs?"

"My whole life," he said. "Gladiators are born into the caste. I started as a pleasurebot, then I killed anyone who came to my cell. They put me as a gladiator, and I excelled there."

Starscream shook his helm and curled his digits into fists. "That is...disgusting."

"I would like to run for Prime," he continued. "I want to change Cybertron so that never happens." He looked at Starscream with sincere blue optics that Starscream learned to adore.

"My sire is King. I can get you anything." He stroked the gladiator's cheek with his claws. "Come on. Let's get the servants to buff and finish you, mm?"

He nodded and he followed the Seeker out into the hall, stopping when he saw the femme. "She was a favorite."

"We know. She has the scars and wounds to prove it." Starscream shut the door to give the poor femme some privacy. Then he pushed Megatronus down to the servant hall.

"It is lovely here," he whispered.

"Carrier loves her servants. She's making that femme one, too." He chuckled softly as he sat Megatronus down at the servants' table, letting the femmes buff and repaint him. Megatronus stayed still and quiet, then he followed Starscream to the dining room. "I bet you are in need of refueling..." Starscream grabbed bowls, cubes, and little dishes of fuel of every kind: candy, plain cubes, sweet cubes... Megatronus whimpered at the amount of fuel, shocked when the Seeker gave him everything.

"Your sire...is King?"

"I'm training to be King," he said as he sighed. "Sire is getting old, and I'm getting older."

"What about your brothers?"

"The Crown always goes to the first born." He sighed as he rubbed his arm, watching the gladiator refuel painfully slow. "You don't have to be a gentlemech in front of me," he whispered. "I know you are starving. The femme started nibbling on the bowl we gave her."

Megatronus dropped his digits, then looked down at the fuel. All his? He looked at the Seeker, who nodded. Then he shoved the fuel into his mouth, unable to fill it fast enough.

Starscream sat. "There we go."

The Prince watched the gladiator, giving him more fuel whenever the mech started to nibble at the bowls, lick the table, suck on his digits to get every last drop of fuel into his tank.

Skywarp and Thundercracker watched, then the latter went up to check on the femme.

The Queen walked in, her optics red in anger. She saw Megatronus licking the table while Starscream set about filling more cubes for the mech and she walked over, stroking the mech's helm gently while he refueled. "He has a friend," she whispered. "A little data-clerk."

"Orion Pax," Megatronus said. "He has come back for me?"

"Who is Orion Pax?"

"Orion Pax is a data-clerk, like your carrier said. He has been trying to get me out of the Pits since he first saw me fight. He waits for me now in Iacon, I suppose."

Starscream nodded and he looked at the Energon-covered face of the mech, then gave him a napkin. "We might as well make you presentable," he said and he got up. "Again."

 **ooo**

Carrier refused to let Orion wait for Megatronus. The data-clerk (yes, he was very little) waited, instead, in the dining room while Starscream washed Megatron again.

Orion covered his mouth with his servos when he saw Megatronus trailing down the steps after Starscream. "Megatronus...?"

"Hello, Orion..." The gladiator walked to the data-clerk, letting the smaller mech touch him all over.

"He has never looked this good..." The little mech smiled at Starscream and held out a servo. "Thank you...thank you so much."

Starscream shook his servo, nodding. "It is our pleasure."

"I will always praise you Seekers." Then the clerk frowned and hooked his digits in Megatronus' collar. "Could this be removed?"

Starscream had forgotten about the collar. "Yes, hold on." He left for only a few moments before he came back with scissors. He gave Megatronus the cue to kneel and the Seeker slowly cut the collar away from his neck. The gladiator jumped up and scrabbled as far away as he could from the strap of leather. Orion took the gladiator's servo, guiding him around it and out the door.

The Queen watched, then she knelt and picked up the collar. She scowled and dropped it into the trash. "Have your firebug brother burn this later," she said to Starscream.

"SKYWARP!" Starscream ran up the stairs, finding his brothers in Thundercracker's room. "Carrier wants you to burn the traaaaaa..." He trailed off.

The femme was changing her physical form, becoming a minicon, then an Insecticon, and then taking Skywarp's physical form. The two Skywarps turned their attention to Starscream.

"What is that?"

"Oh, it's me! She can do this, Starscream. She's this, um..." He frowned. "Amalgamous' descendant."

"Amalgami," she said, hugging a pillow as she dropped the Skywarp 'guise. "I can take anyone's physical appearance."

"That won't be very helpful here. More annoying than anything else." He turned to his brother. "Trash needs burning."

Skywarp jumped out of Thundercracker's berth and hurried down the stairs.

"WALK!" Starscream walked into the hallway, but it was too late. Skywarp was running around everywhere.

The femme appeared at his elbow. "He won't ever grow up."

"No," he sighed. "He will not." He looked at her. "How are you?"

"I will be fine in a couple years." She scratched behind her audio. "I am looking for my sister," she whispered. "We were given up to the Pits together, but she escaped."

"We'll find her, if she's anything like you." He touched her shoulder gently. "You need to sleep. I'll keep my brothers from annoying you. I promise."

"Oh, I'm not worried about your brothers. I'd rather them than any other mech." She smiled and walked slowly back to Thundercracker, letting him pester her before she took his physical form and the littler mech laughed.

Starscream walked down the hall, thinking about what Megatronus had said. Running for Prime? He nodded to himself and he walked to talk to his sire about getting the High Council to listen to a former gladiator.


	4. Chapter 4

**Epilogue:**

 _ **The war started. With Orion Pax's help, Starscream's sire did get the gladiator the hearing he wanted, but Orion Pax intervened, and Megatron sought Starscream out for more help: to destroy the clerk and his army of followers. Starscream readied his assassins, readied his brothers who had grown up from bumbling princes into warriors when things for Seekers got tougher. They became pets, slaves, and pretty things to look out behind bars.**_

 _ **Vos had been bombed, completely leveled. Only the femme servant, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and the King made it out of the palace. The Queen was never seen again.**_

 _ **The King later fell victim to Tox-En, throwing his body on top of it to protect the four Seekers he was with. He died slowly, painfully, and Starscream buried him in the rubble where he thought his carrier was. Then he hurried his brothers onto Megatron's side. The femme servant stayed behind, weeping and singing for the King and Queen, earning the name Starsong. Starscream bid her good luck, knowing his servant would never abandon his creators.**_

 _ **He didn't see her for millions of years. But he found her sister, Nightshade, sandwiched between Megatron and the berth. Nighthawk, Nightshade's carrier, stood in the corner, watching. She said nothing. She just played with the Energon she had earned from giving her master her daughter. When she saw Starscream, she gave him a cold look, and then left.**_

 _ **The Seekers eventually died out. It was only him on the**_ **Nemesis** _ **with Nightshade. His brothers were elsewhere, roaming the stars with Nemesis. Starscream laid down with his servant's sister and she carried his trine of Seekerlings.**_

 _ **He saw Starsong again, now called Crystal by the Prime, the former clerk. He could not bring himself to harm the femme, but he worked hard at destroying the mech that destroyed Megatron. The warlord was...furious about that, and punished the Seeker. Repeatedly.**_

 _ **Starscream, rightful King, was now nothing more than a grieving mech's punching bag...**_

 **Alright. I needed to end this, so I did a basic summary. I now have** _ **nothing**_ **. I tried reading the fic that was suggested, but there was no way that I could do a fic inspired by this fic** _ **without simply reproducing the fic**_ **. So...now I'm down on my knees, begging for someone to hear my pitiful cries and come to my rescue with a funny and amusing pairing that I am somewhat familiar with and can pull off x3 Or...perhaps I'll just interrogate someone else x3 She might give me some fic ideas if I shake her hard enough. RisingGundam2006 and Creepy-Pasta! GET** _ **OVER**_ **HERE!**


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